Delayed delivery of brick to masonry construction sites has caused many contractors to proceed with the construction of back-up wythes in composite and cavity walls to maintain construction schedules. If reinforcement to tie back-up and exterior wythes together is required it is normally installed in the bed joints of the back-up wythe and remains protruding from this wythe. When the brick is finally delivered, the exterior wythe is constructed and serious difficulties are encountered by the bricklayers in attempting to maintain specified mortar bed thickness and alignment of mortar joints in the exterior wythe with the protruding reinforcings of the back-up wythe. These and other problems have stimulated a demand in recent times for adjustable masonry reinforcing means and to satisfy this demand, a number of prior art reinforcing systems have been devised. The following United States patents pertaining to such reinforcing systems are made of record herein under 37 C.F.R. 1.56:
U.S. Pat Nos. 1,280,173, 3,341,998, 2,174,844, 3,353,312, 3,277,626, 3,377,764, 3,292,336, 3,918,227, 3,300,939, 3,964,226, 3,309,828, 3,964,227, 4,021,990.
A major deficiency in the known prior art lies in the provision of adjustable components including ties which are not preassembled permanently to the block mesh, but instead are in the nature of attachment elements which are connected to the block mesh and adjusted relative to the mesh on the construction job site. Such add-on "bits and pieces" are easily mislaid or lost in shipment or on the job site, adding to the complexity of the problem as well as inconvenience and increased cost to contractors. Another drawback of the prior art is the excessive complexity and cost of some proposed reinforcing systems and a general lack of uniformity or standardization of parts.
The present invention has for its primary object the complete overcoming of the above prior art deficiencies through the provision of an essentially standardized and readily adjustable masonry reinforcing system in which the parts are prefabricated in permanently assembled relationship and the overall construction of the system is extremely simplified and economical to manufacture and to install at the construction site. The reinforcing system according to the invention involves the utilization of standard commercial components including corrugated ties which are both pivotally and slidably assembled onto appropriate members of the block mesh in either truss or ladder styles of mesh. The multiple ties are freely adjustable on the block mesh to the most advantageous positions of use in wall structures and are also movable to retracted shipping or storage positions nearly or entirely within the boundaries of the block mesh to form a compact, integral shipping unit. In the invention, there is no fear of separation of the ties at any time from the reinforcing mesh, thus totally eliminating one of the major drawbacks of the prior art.
The necessary compensations for spacing between the wythes and cavity walls and for misalignment of mortar joints in back-up and exterior wythes is readily achieved by bending the corrugated wall ties during the construction of walls and sometimes trimming off end portions of ties.
Another advantage of the invention lies in its great versatility in its ability to meet the needs of particular installations in which requirements vary over a wide range. The corrugated ties can be attached pivotally and slidably either to longitudinal members or diagonal brace members in truss-type block mesh to achieve versatility and the angular relationship of the longitudinal axis of the tie to its pivot axis may also be varied.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art during the course of the following description.